Just wondering if anyone has had an occupational tberapy assessment at work with regard to the symptoms of pbc. Also if anyone has had experience of an employer making reasonable adjustments to accommodate them continuing working.

My employer has arranged for an OT assessment and I would love to hear from anyone who has experience of this or any suggestions/thoughts on what might be beneficial. My current role is full-time which I am looking to reduce to part-time. I want to ensure that going fotward my time and energy is balanced in favour of the things that really matter to me.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

8 Replies

Hello Jemlola, I had a workplace OT assessment a few years ago. Problem for me was they knew nothing about PBC and I had to take all the information I had from the Foundation with me. Tbh they didnt know how to proceed and it was I that had to suggest the best way forward. I was an on call manager in the Ambulance Service and the adjustments just didnt work. There was certainly no chane of part-time. In the end, 2 years on my work and I parted company after 20 years services

Thank you for replying to my post and sharing your experience of an Occupational Therapy assessment. I kind of thought that I will probably have to take information from the pbc foundation and think about adjustments that might be better for me. I am thinking reduced hours, perhaps shorter days and the opportunity to work from home some of the time if it is feasible. It is a shame that your Employers lost 20 years of skill, experience and continuity.

I am not sure if my Employers are willing or able to make adjustments for my role. Ultimately I know that to ensure I keep well I will probably have to remove myself from the stressful environment that is my workplace.

I'm in exactly the same position. I'll update when I've had mine. I've already told them I want to reduce from full time to three days a week and this has been accepted. We'll see what happens with the rest of it.

Thanks for your reply. I am also thinking about dropping from full-time to 3 days. I want to explore working from home particularly on days when I feel exhausted. Please let me know how you get on, I hope you get some good advice

Hi i have had PBC for 11 months trying to come to terms with it as my doctor isnt any good and refused to give me the medicine for 5 months.

My work place said i can work from home 1 to 2 days a week. But its turned out i go into office twice a week. Some days i cannot get in when i am feeling bad and they are ok with me working more days at home. I work in finance i have a laptop and they have given me a docking station and screen. My boss even read up on pbc to help me.

He said i can go part time? At a later date i will as i want to move at the moment.

Thank you for your reply. I have sent my immediate line manager information from pbc including the leaflet and advised him to contact them direct if he needs any more information. I think the fact that I had my gall bladder removed in March and needed to take recovery time for this is clouding the issue for him. I returned to work to find out from the Consultant that my blood results indicated a diagnosis of pbc. On reflection I think I have probably been quite unwell for at least a year but with being busy put down the way I was feeling down to this and stress. Also I think I had thought that the gall bladder was the problem and after my op I would feel better.

I want to carry on working in some capacity but really recognise the importance of getting the work life balance right. I would like to think I am valued by my Employers and that they are willing to try to accommodate ways for me to continue working for them. It sounds like your Boss values you and the work you do for them. On top of getting this diagnosis it is quite stressful trying to sort all this stuff out.